The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze

Description

Continuing for a record 28 selected evenings through Nov. 16, The Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze® is the Hudson Valley’s biggest all-ages Halloween extravaganza. A small team of artists comes together to carve more than 5,000 jacks, many fused together in elaborate constructions such as life-size dinosaurs and eight-foot-tall working jack-o’lanterns-in-the-box, all lit up throughout the wooded walkways, orchards, and gardens of historic Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.

The Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze, which drew more than 100,000 visitors last year, features more than 5,000 illuminated, individually hand-carved jack o’ lanterns. Elaborate single-pumpkin carvings and huge multi-jack o’lantern constructions are professionally lit throughout the landscape of Van Cortlandt Manor in various themed areas.

Favorite installations such as the Undersea Aquarium and Jurassic Park are joined this year by new creations including a life-size pumpkin version of Sleepy Hollow Country’s most iconic inhabitant, the Headless Horseman, and an enormous cake in celebration of this classic event’s tenth anniversary year.

Creative Director Michael Natiello leads a small team of Historic Hudson Valley staff and local artists who carve. In addition, more than 1,000 volunteers help scoop and light the pumpkins. Blaze artists will be carving on site during the event. The Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze Shop offers a full bounty of Blaze-specific merchandise including hats, notepads, games, T-shirts, magnets, caps, mugs, and jewelry. Café Blazé, by Geordane’s of Irvington, will offer culinary treats including soup, veggie chili, muffins, pumpkin cookies, and cider.

Tracks from Blaze: The Soundtrack Volume I & II, created by professional musician, radio personality, and Halloween fanatic Richard Christy, play throughout the experience. The soundtrack is available as a CD at the event and also a digital download from iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play.